Embodiments of the invention relate to a system with redundant power switch modules, a switch assembly thereof and an associated method, and more particularly to a system and a switch assembly with fault protection for the redundant power switch modules, and a method for fault protection.
Electronic power switches, such as insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) modules, are widely used in the power electronic field, such as high and intermediate voltage frequency converters, IGBT bridges in a chopper, for their excellent electric control property. For high and intermediate voltage applications, multiple switch modules each including multiple electronic power switches are connected in series to provide a large voltage. In such cases, as the total number of series connected switch modules increases, the system reliability is reduced. For example, when one of the switch modules fails, the rest of the series connected switch modules may see increased voltage stress and thus, may not function properly and/or may also fail subsequently.
It is desirable to provide a system, a switch assembly and a method to address the above-mentioned problem.